November 30, 2007

From a speech delivered at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington DC on November 28, 2007.

Besides writing blogs, I am a Communications Director* of the Biomass Coordinating Council (BCC) of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). ACORE is a Washington-based advocacy association that promotes all renewable energy forms. The BCC, led by the intrepid Bill Holmberg, focuses attention on bioenergy technology, as well as environmental and economic sustainability issues.

America is still the “Can do” leader of the world. It is heartening to travel to recent national and international conferences, expos, and workshops to sense the excitement and see the vision that researchers, government agencies, technologists, and investors are proposing as we face the daunting challenges of the new millennium.

It is time to assess bioenergy’s attributes to see how they fit into the renewable energy paradigm shift sweeping the nation.

We need to help American business, community, educational, state, and federal leaders to understand the opportunities these attributes represent. Doing so will not only raise awareness of bioenergy, but also help persuade policy makers to ACT NOW to support our critically important research, development, and deployment with new policies, loan guarantees, and incentives.

Each message above is linked to article that briefly outlines how bioenergy is able to accomplish these socially beneficial actions. They are at the heart of what motivates leaders from all walks of life to get involved in the most significant paradigm shift of our time.

*In the interest of full disclosure, I am also a Marketing Consultant for Price BIOstock Services - the logistics support company responsible for procuring, delivering, and preparing woody biomass to paper and pulp mills and biorefineries – like Range Fuels’ landmark cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in Georgia.

Bioenergy is the ONLY renewable technology that can convert solar energy into LIQUID fuel.

If we expect to substitute renewable energy for fossil fuel energy, we are going to have to tackle the challenge of liquid fuels - how do we replace our dependence on oil, diesel, and gasoline with functionally equivalent biofuels? So much of the positive press about renewables focuses on the urban non-liquid technologies - wind and solar - while negative press focuses on rural liquid technology concerns - the ethanol food vs. fuel dilemma, farm subsidies, water consumption, the net energy balance debate, etc.

My suspicion is that the press is catering to an urban readership that is disconnected from the opportunities, concerns, and sensibilities of rural America. Wind and solar are seen as pristine "clean" and "technological" whereas crops and forests are seen as dirty, wasteful, corporate, manipulative, etc. Anyone coming from a rural orientation could say that wind and solar are "unnatural", inefficient, ugly, irrelevant, and not deployable.

The fact is that we need ALL renewable energy technologies because each region has its own climate, resources, liabilities, and energy opportunities. The waste and subsidies of all of them will reduce as they develop and net energy balance will certainly improve (as they have in Brazil). Renewable energy lobbies on Farm and Energy legislation are necessary to move timetables forward against the obstruction coming from fossil energy lobbies.

Before the invention of solar cells, nature developed its own way of capturing solar energy. Photovoltaic solar arrays are good at converting light to electricity but are incapable of storing the electricity. Here are listed some of their other drawbacks:• Solar cells are expensive to produce & install.• Their manufacture requires fossil energy and exotic materials.• Their production is centralized and requires long distance distribution.• Arrays conduct and radiate the heat they absorb.• They do not function efficiently on overcast days or at night.• They are only efficient in certain climates and regions of the world.

• They store solar energy (as sugars).• They are self-replicating - requiring no fossil fuels in their manufacture. • They create shade and absorb heat.• They function 24 hours a day either respiring oxygen or transpiring water.• They sequester half their weight in carbon from the carbon dioxide they absorb from the atmosphere.• They create animal and insect habitats and protect streams.• They enhance landscapes. • Their roots prevent erosion.• They are adaptable to various climates and terrains.

In short, bioenergy using photosynthesis offers a much more natural and flexible solution to energy capture than solar energy using photovoltaics.

We now have four ways to convert this stored energy into biofuels.

Besides transesterification to produce biodiesel and sugar fermentation to produce ethanol, we are now deploying two new commercial-scale platforms for creating biofuels from the solar energy stored in biomass.

Cellulosic biomass (plants, wood, and their wastes) can be separated into its component sugars and lignin using enzymatic or acid hydrolysis biochemistry. The sugars can be fermented into ethanol and the lignin combusted to generate heat, steam, and electricity.

A more robust decomposition of feedstock can be achieved through thermochemical means – pyrolysis and gasification. The range and kind of feedstock is vast. Besides biomass it can include municipal solid waste, sludge, tires, petcoke, autofluff and blends of various feedstock. Industrial BioOils are already being produced from woody biomass through pyrolysis. Distilled alcohols like ethanol and methanol can be produced through fermentation or catalysis of the synthesis gas resulting from gasification. These are clean, low-emission technologies.

If we want to replace fossil fuels, no renewable industry other than bioenergy produces liquid fuels.

-------------This article is the first in a series of five about the unique capabilities of bioenergy.

What are the capabilities of bioenergy technologies that make them unique as a means of reducing greenhouse gases?

Bioenergy comes from the processing of biomass. Biomass "refers to living and recently dead biological material that can be used as fuel or for industrial production. Most commonly, biomass refers to plant matter grown for use as biofuel, but it also includes plant or animal matter used for production of fibres, chemicals or heat." (Wikipedia)The carbon cycle is the sustained transfer of carbon between the atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere and then back again. The current concern about fossil fuels is that they are corrupting the carbon cycle by adding below ground carbon to the above ground cycle. NASA estimates the worldwide amount of fossil fuel carbon added to the atmosphere each year to be a colossal 5.5 billion metric tons (see red graphic above). These are the dread greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. This addition of subterranean carbon to the atmosphere is termed "carbon positive."

It is possible to use fossil fuels in the production of electricity, capture most of the carbon dioxide from the process, and inject it back into the ground. This is called carbon geo-sequestration and it is used primarily to increase oil production by using gas pressure to force deposits of oil to the surface. However, most carbon dioxide from fossil resources - car emissions for example - can't be captured and returned underground (see orange graphic representation above).

One characteristic of renewable energy is that they are, by definition, "carbon neutral" (see gray graphic) - neither adding nor reducing the amount of above carbon used in the carbon cycle. Most forms of renewable energy - solar, wind, hydroelectric, tidal, and geothermal - don't involve the use or conversion of carbon at all.

In contrast to other renewable energy processes, bioenergy involves the conversion and combustion of the carbon content of biomass. Through photosynthesis carbon dioxide is pulled out of the air and stored as sugars (see green cycle above). As long as the carbon stays in the plant or in plant products, the biomass is essentially a carbon sink, temporarily removing the carbon out of the carbon cycle. Through roots, which are not harvested, a good portion of each plant's carbon capture is left in the ground.

If the carbon emissions from combustion are captured and injected into oil fields, then this would be "carbon negative." Unlike fossil fuel emissions, any emissions from biofuel is "carbon neutral" because the carbon was derived from carbon already converted into sugars and cellulose in the biomass. The net effect of bioenergy is at worst carbon neutral but, through best practices of the forest products industry, often carbon negative.

One other option for subterranean sequestration is being researched by agronomists. There is an ancient practice of using the char from burned biomass as a fertilizer or soil amendment for growing crops. This is variously termed terra preta, biochar, or agrichar.

A recent article in the Biopact Blog discusses the four generations of biofuels. It describes recent research into ways to maximize the "carbon negative" impact of bioenergy:

In fourth generation production systems, biomass crops are seen as efficient 'carbon capturing' machines that take CO2 out of the atmosphere and lock it up in their branches, trunks and leaves. The carbon-rich biomass is then converted into fuel and gases by means of second generation techniques. Crucially, before, during or after the bioconversion process, the carbon dioxide is captured by utilizing so-called pre-combustion, oxyfuel or post-combustion processes. The greenhouse gas is then geosequestered - stored in depleted oil and gas fields, in unmineable coal seams or in saline aquifers, where it stays locked up for hundreds, possibly thousands of years.

According to scientists who looked at this concept of 'bio-energy with carbon storage' (BECS) within the context of a strategy to counter 'abrupt climate change', these systems, if applied on a global scale, can take us back to pre-industrial levels of atmospheric CO2. The concept would be more efficient than techniques that are limited to scrubbing CO2 out of the atmosphere without tackling the source of the problem: the combustion of fossil fuels. BECS intervenes at the source and replaces fossil fuels with renewable biomass; the systems scrub CO2 out of the atmosphere while delivering clean energy. As such, they are seen as one of the only low-risk geo-engineering methods that could help us tackle climate change without powering down our societies.

In summary, Bioenergy is the only renewable energy technology that can reduce greenhouse gases.

-------------This article is the second in a series of five about the unique capabilities of bioenergy.

There are biomass waste streams throughout the world that could provide the feedstock for future biomass conversion to biofuels. These waste streams are creating some of the most acute environmental problems afflicting society - • Excess biomass in forests – forest density that is 4 to 10 times historic norms – creates conditions that exacerbate droughts leading to forest fires and bug infestations• Excess biomass in urban areas - municipal solid wastes – is getting out of control necessitating bigger landfills that are further away from our urban centers. This excess waste contributes to land, water, and air pollution• Rural agricultural residues and damaged crops could have a higher value as soil amendments and biomass feedstock.

Add to this list the steadily growing millions of tons of disaster debris from floods, hurricanes, wildfires, etc. that require cleanup. This has become the focus of a federal interdepartmental initiative called the Woody Biomass Utilization Group coordinated by the Departments of Energy, Agriculture and Interior.

To restore forests to a healthy condition, the Forest Foundation recommends a three step, economically sustainable solution that involves private industry who would restore and maintain forest stewardship as part of their operating overhead. 1. First they would be contracted to harvest and sell decaying biomass to pay for forest management2. Then reforest to a historic model specific to the forest, and 3. They could then mechanically thin vulnerable forests of woody biomass to prevent pronounced exposure to new fires and infestations.

The Forest Service would provide regulatory oversight of the program.

We need to be better stewards of our natural resources. Biomass conversion from waste to energy is a win win that can help to fund proper stewardship. It is clear that government funding without private enterprise will never be sufficient for the task.

-------------This article is the third in a series of five about the unique capabilities of bioenergy.

Fossil energy - with all its societal costs and impact on the environment - is no longer viewed as "cheap." It is seen as an addiction - a wedge that is coming between our communities and their environment. In contrast, a burgeoning bioenergy industry is a way to revive communities by providing businesses that cannot be outsourced while creating purposeful work that brings people together with their natural resources.

Here is a regional snapshot of the renewable energy patchwork that is currently developing thoroughout the continental U.S. The revitalization of the Corn Belt illustrates what could happen in other regions if we choose to expand our bioenergy infrastructure - for example, cellulose-based renewable energy from forests and hybrid crops in the Southeast and marginal lands of the country…

We could develop hundreds of biorefineries, produce billions of gallon of liquid fuel, generate thousands of megawatts of electricity, save billions of dollars in imports, create tens of thousands of jobs, and raise land values enough to revitalize communities.

These are developments that are based on the economy of local supply and logistical support - generally we think in terms of a 75 mile biomass supply radius for each plant. Instead of the existing overly centralized energy paradigm, we would be developing regionally based energy solutions which greatly enhances security.

The forest products industry is already the biggest provider of renewable energy in the country - bigger than hydroelectric - supplying roughly 44% of current bioenergy. This change was initiated during the last major oil crisis in the 70’s but the boilers are not as efficient and clean as they could be. After thirty years they are due for replacement. The capital outlays for upgrading these facilities may mean the closure and outsourcing of much of our forest products industry to other countries.

A year and a half ago the American Forest and Paper Association published a study as part of its forward thinking 2020 Agenda Initiative. It was titled the Forest Products Industry Technology Roadmap. It outlines what alternative technologies are available and develops a scenario for how its members could insert new biochemical and thermochemical conversion technologies into their existing infrastructure to generate new and cleaner profit streams.

The TAPPI conference in Atlanta last May focused industry attention on these new ways to convert wood to biofuels and high value bioproducts like bioplastics and furfural, while cogenerating electricity and centralized heat to power their operations and local communities.

The challenge of reviving dying industries and communities is a major reason that people with tremendous financial resources (like venture capitalists Vinod Khosla, Bill Gates, and others leaders from previous paradigm shifts) are motivated to accept the risks of bioenergy investments. Part of the challenge is making sure that consistent governmental policies will make these investments economically sustainable over the long haul.

-------------This article is the fourth in a series of five about the unique capabilities of bioenergy.

Bioenergy provides the only renewable LIQUID fuels we will see at the pump in our lifetimes.

The United States is a nation that not only preaches self-reliance, but also freedom of choice. We vote at the election booth every couple of years and we promote the global spread of this “self-evident” right.

But we also vote with our wallets every day of the week. People who are apathetic and confused at the ballot box are, in contrast, vested and discriminating decision-makers when it comes to pocketbook issues. They may buy fuel based on fluctuations in the short-term price, but they also make long-term decisions - like where to live and what kind of car to buy - based on expected future prices of energy.It is important that service stations carry a variety of fuels that give us alternatives to petroleum or other fossil fuels. The freedom to choose alternatives is fundamental to the economic flexibility and sustainability of our energy paradigm. Brazil chose to develop alternatives and now they are energy self-sufficient - in fact they currently export both oil and ethanol. Other countries should be able to also.Without choices we are locked into a status quo that will wreak havoc on future generations throughout the world. Imagine the impact when China, India, and other developing countries start to clamber for their fair share of oil. Again, bioenergy is the only renewable source of liquid energy. It needs to be developed now so that each region of the world can have more choices about how they can become more energy secure and self-sufficient.

Since it will take roughly 15 years to cycle out current car technology, we need a transition that will assure service station operators a growing demand for alternative fuels. Once step that the Brazilian government took was to mandate that all new cars sold after a certain date were flex fuel compatible. We need to develop policies that mandate flex-fuel and new plug-in e-flex auto technology which will insure more choices in the future.

-------------This article is the fifth in a series of five about the unique capabilities of bioenergy.

November 7, 2007

On November 6th, 2007 a who's who of federal and state public servants, alternative energy business representatives, and technologists from all of the country came to the tiny rural town of Soperton, Georgia to participate in the groundbreaking of the country's first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facility. It was a milestone for the facility owner, Range Fuels, Inc., and it promises to be the first of many such milestones for the ethanol industry, thermochemical biofuel production, forest-based rural communities, and the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture.

Besides the organizers, the roster of speakers included local elected politicians, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, and Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman - whose agency is providing $76 million in funding grants for the installation as part of the 932 Grant program announced last February. Tom Doerr, the Undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture also attended.

Hosting the groundbreaking was the President of Range Fuels, Mitch Mandich (pictured at right with Vinod Khosla), who assured the audience of his company's commitment to sustaining Soperton's forest assets and ecology.

"The environmental sensitivity of renewable resources are key to our country. So for every tree removed here in Georgia, two trees are planted. When you put millions of dollars in the ground in a plant, it's important that it have the feedstock to support it and we have it here. That plant will have a minimal impact on land. We have 281 acres here of which we will probably be using less than 15. The rest of the acreage will be open space and wildlife habitat. Behind me we have already built an environmental trail and an ecology trail through the wetlands so when we have visitors to the plant we will also have a nature tour for them."

He cited and thanked numerous business partners in the audience who have helped with the siting, environmental compliance, logistics, and construction of the final plant. These include CH2M Hill and Price BIOstock Services.

Mandich introduced the principal investor of the company - venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.

"For a few years now I have said that we need to declare a war on oil. Corn ethanol started that war and without corn ethanol we wouldn't be making the investments that make cellulosic ethanol possible. As the war has escalated in my view, we need better weapons. Cellulosic ethanol is the weapon we need to scale this wall and finally replace oil. Every assumption about oil and petro-based fuel is based on the fact that we have cost-effective alternatives to oil. Within a few years ethanol from this plant, unsubsidized, will be cheaper than oil even after it drops to half its current price. Renewable fuels will be cheaper than their fossil alternatives and we will create competition for oil and will balance the monopoly of oil.

Construction will start immediately with approximately 200 workers involved over the next 4 to 5 months.

Here is the entirety of the Range Fuels press release about this event:

Broomfield, CO and Soperton, GA – November 6, 2007 – Range Fuels, Inc. announced today that it is breaking ground on the nation’s first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant located in Treutlen County, Georgia, near the town of Soperton. Range Fuels, one of six companies selected by the Department of Energy (DOE) for financial support in building a commercial cellulosic ethanol plant, will be the first to break ground.

The groundbreaking event is being hosted on the future site of Range Fuels’ Soperton Plant. The event will feature federal, state, city and county officials, including the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Samuel W. Bodman, and the Governor of Georgia, Sonny Perdue.

Range Fuels’ Soperton Plant will use wood and wood waste from Georgia’s pine forests and mills as its feedstock and will have the capacity to produce over one hundred million gallons of ethanol per year. Construction of the first 20 million-gallon-per-year phase is expected to be completed in 2008.

As part of its $76 million Technology Investment Agreement with the DOE, Range Fuels will receive $50 million based upon the project construction schedule for the first 20-million-gallon-per-year phase of its Soperton Plant. The remainder of the grant, $26 million, will be provided for construction of the next phase of the project.

Range Fuels selected Georgia for its first plant based upon the state’s robust wood products industry supported by Georgia’s vast sustainable and renewable forest lands. The state’s environmental sensitivity and responsible stewardship of its forest lands have created resources that allow Georgia to support up to two billion gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol production through the application of Range Fuels’ technology.

"Range Fuel's production of cellulosic ethanol from wood materials will make Georgia a national leader in innovative alternative energy production," said Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. "This project, and others like it, will boost economic development in rural Georgia and reduce our state's dependence on foreign oil."

“The state of Georgia has provided us with an excellent opportunity to locate our first plant using its abundant, renewable forest resources as feedstock. Our technology transforms the wood and wood waste from Georgia’s millions of acres of woodlands into ethanol, a key source of transportation fuel,” said Mitch Mandich, CEO of Range Fuels. “Range Fuels’ focus on green, renewable energy will ultimately reduce greenhouse gases, promote energy independence, and create new jobs.”

Range Fuels’ approach is aimed at helping our planet restore its environmental balance. Range Fuels’ technology is self-sustaining and uses the same feedstock to make ethanol as it does to operate its plant, minimizing its reliance on fossil fuels and the consequent production of greenhouse gases. Through Range Fuels’ innovative process for producing cellulosic ethanol, the Soperton Plant will use a quarter of the average water required by corn-based ethanol plants.

In addition, the Soperton Plant has been permitted as a minor source of emissions. Its proximity to both wood supplies and ethanol markets will minimize energy expended in supplying the facility with feedstock and providing ethanol to consumer markets, further demonstrating the low-impact, environmentally-friendly nature of Range Fuels’ technology.

Range Fuels has won the support of many industry and environmental groups including the Renewable Fuels Association, the American Coalition for Ethanol, the Clean Fuels Development Coalition and General Motors.

“Range Fuels’ groundbreaking on its first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant presents an extraordinary opportunity to move the country into the next generation of biofuels that will help improve the environment and secure America’s energy independence,” said Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President for the American Coalition for Ethanol. “Now, more than ever, it is critical for us to pursue clean-burning, homegrown, and cost-effective alternatives to foreign oil. Range Fuels is among the leaders in the biofuels industry and is poised to help us achieve these goals. I congratulate Range Fuels on this important day.”

“This groundbreaking clearly demonstrates that the next generation of biofuels are possible and reinforces that achieving the President’s goal of displacing 20 percent of the nation’s gasoline consumption with alternative fuels by 2017 can become a reality,” said Bob Dineen, President and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association. “Progress like this will additionally help the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing ethanol production from processes that utilize sustainable supplies of biomass, like residue from timber harvesting and agricultural wastes.”

“On behalf of all the members of the Clean Fuels Development Coalition (CFDC), we congratulate Range Fuels as they take this significant step forward in the development of cellulosic ethanol,” said Doug Durante, Executive Director of the CFDC. “This project will demonstrate that commercial production of cellulosic ethanol made from biomass or plant matter can be a reality. This facility will be one of many helping the country reduce greenhouse gas emissions and move toward energy independence.”

"Range Fuel's investment in this ethanol production facility is an important step toward the next generation of renewable fuels. Cellulosic ethanol has enormous potential for displacing gasoline and reducing emissions," said Beth Lowery, General Motors Vice President of Environment, Energy, and Safety Policy.

About Range Fuels, Inc.Range Fuels, Inc., is focused on green energy and the production of cellulosic ethanol. The company does not use food products like corn, but rather uses waste materials and other non food sources and turns them into valuable products. The company's innovative technology uses wood chips, municipal waste, paper pulp, olive pits, and more, and converts those materials to ethanol. The company's system, named K2, uses a two step thermo-chemical conversion process. The first step converts the biomass to synthesis gas and the second step converts the gas to ethanol. The company's business model is to design, build, own and operate its plants. The company is privately held and funded by Khosla Ventures, LLC, arguably the top venture firm in the U.S. focusing on alternative, green energy systems. The leadership team melds experience from Silicon Valley's fast-paced, high-tech world, and the technologically intense coal, coal gasification, and gas-to-liquids industries. Range Fuels' vision is to introduce the world to a fuel that's renewable, sustainable, and eco-friendly in its production.

About Me

President of The Miller DeWulf Corporation in Los Angeles, Scott holds an MBA and is a consultant, blogger, writer, webmaster, and EDP (Electronic Document Professional) who has worked in marketing and communications for numerous engineering, educational, and utility firms. He is President of the Victory Plant initiative and works with biomass feedstock supply, logistics, and conversion technology companies. He is a member of ACORE, 25x'25, SAF, FRA, and SIM. Follow his tweets at @BIOblogger.